Information handling systems, such as desktop and portable computers, servers, Internet appliances, personal digital assistants, and the like, may communicate with other electronic devices for increased functionality. For example, a typical desktop computer may communicate with hard drives, printers, optical media readers, and the like. To communicate with these devices, typically, a controller was configured to comply with a standard to enable the devices to exchange information.
For instance, a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) defines an input/output bus and logical interfaces supporting the bus of interconnecting computer and peripheral devices. This interface was developed as a standard interface for a variety of devices so that only a single adapter type was required, as opposed to previous interfaces that were configured for only a specific type of device, such as a hard disk interface for a hard disk drive, and the like. Thus, a device independent mechanism was achieved to attach and access devices to host computers that supports multiple devices, including one or more hosts. SCSI interfaces are available on a variety of systems, from desktop computers to minicomputers and supercomputers.
However, one host driver previously configured SCSI channels because multiple SCSI channels looked identical to an operating system. Thus, the operating system could not control which host driver controls which SCSI channel. Previously, to control which host driver controlled which SCSI channels, separate protocol controllers were necessary. Therefore, the complexity, space taken by the devices and cost of the information handling system increased.
Further, even with the availability of a SCSI interface, the need for expanded functionality in information handling systems may require a variety of protocols and interconnects for communicating with the wide variety of desired devices.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a multichannel interface controller.